07-16-2017, 01:44 PM
Way back in 1968 I was between jobs and decided to go to Europe for a while. I was living in the Detroit area and there was a newspaper strike. No place to advertise my bike for sale there. So I visited friends in D.C. and advertised it there. I only got 2 inquiries and was wasting time so I called TWA and got a quote of $150 dollars to air freight it to Frankfort Germany. I got a crate from the local Honda dealer and crated my Kawasaki 650cc W1 and my friends and I hauled it to the terminal. Well, about 3 hours before I was due to board my passenger flight I get this call from the freight agent saying he quoted me the wrong tariff. The tariff he quoted me for for motorcycle parts and the one for a completed motorcycle was double!! I told him that he made the mistake, not me, and perhaps he could open the crate, remove the front wheel and seat that were already off the bike (so it would fit in the crate), put them in a separate box, and then ship 2 boxes of motorcycle parts. To my surprise he said he could do that! So, I flew over, got to Frankfort, went to get my bike and asked if I could leave the crate since I had no place to discard it. The freight agent looked at the paperwork and said "but this says motorcycle parts". "That's true" I said "but you give me a half hour with a wrench". He grinned and said "Sure, sure, leave the the crate"!
I spent 2 and a half months there and shipped the bike back to Detroit via Ocean freight.
I spent 2 and a half months there and shipped the bike back to Detroit via Ocean freight.